Your bedroom is your sanctuary. The place where you rest and let the worries of the day fall away. But if you have a small bedroom, this relaxation can be more difficult as it is all too easy for the space to feel cramped and claustrophobic. Thankfully, there are lots of tricks that you can use to make a small bedroom feel larger so that you can properly relax.

One of the most effective elements to tackle is your bedroom furniture. It is quite amazing what a difference the furniture you choose can have on the room and how large or small it feels. So putting some careful thought into the furniture you choose, and its placement, can have a big impact.

Maximise vertical space

You might not have much floor space in your bedroom design, and your wall space might be pretty sparse too, but you can still use vertical space to create the illusion of a larger room.

Fitted shelves or a bookcase

Using fitted shelves or a bookcase is a great idea for increasing your vertical storage space. Storing items vertically means that you need fewer pieces of freestanding furniture which will help to maximise floor space, helping the room feel bigger.

Floating nightstands or shelves

One of the major ways in which furniture can make a small room feel even smaller is by adding more bulk at the floor level. By using floating nightstands or bedside tables, you are freeing up that area of floor space. This will extend the visual space of the room and add extra light.

Cabin bed or under bed storage drawers

Your bed will be the largest piece of furniture in your room and will take up the largest footprint. So using your bed as extra vertical storage can help to maximise your small space. If you truly want to commit to this idea, a cabin bed will give you a lot of extra space underneath which you can use however you like, including as a place for another furniture piece without increasing the overall footprint.

But even under-bed storage can make a massive difference. A few storage drawers under your bed can fit a surprisingly large amount of items. And these are all items that don’t then need to be stored elsewhere in the bedroom. You might even be able to do away with an extra piece of furniture that was making your bedroom feel smaller. But at the very least, you will be able to minimise your clutter. And a cluttered room will always look smaller

Tall headboard

A tall headboard will create a vertical focal point that draws the eye to the wall space rather than the floor. Taking the eye vertically while also minimising the clutter at floor level is key to creating the illusion of more space.

Increase the light

Light, whether that’s natural light or artificial light, is a very powerful way of helping a tiny bedroom feel larger. The more light you can create in a space, the bigger it will feel.

Natural light

Your biggest source of natural light will be your window. So thinking about the window treatments you use will help you to bring as much of that light into the room as possible. Don’t use heavy curtains. If you are using curtains, make sure they are pale and thin.

Or do without curtains altogether! As long as your bedroom is at least on the first floor and isn’t directly visible from your neighbours’ houses, you don’t necessarily need to have curtains at all. Bare windows will mean you will get as much light into your room as possible.

Artificial lighting

Small bedrooms do often have small windows, so artificial lighting can be an important way of helping your small bedroom look bigger. Using tall floor lamps can help to increase the sense of vertical space by drawing the eye upwards.

Alternatively, using sconces instead of table lamps will reduce the clutter on your bedside table which will help your room feel more spacious and will also take the focus vertically.

Mirrors

Mirrors reflect light and so can be the perfect way of maximising the amount of light you have in your room. A free-standing floor-length mirror, ideally near your window, will have the dual effect of increasing the light and adding height to the room.

If you don’t want to add extra furniture, you could instead add mirrors to your wardrobe doors. These will have the same effect as a floor-length mirror but will preserve some of the precious floor space.

Slender, shorter, or leggy furniture

Bulky furniture won’t help a small bedroom look bigger. It will block off areas of floor space and make the room feel cramped.

Slender furniture

If you’re able to, you can create more space simply by using slimmer and smaller furniture. For example, you could buy a double bed frame rather than a king. Or you could get a thinner bedside table that extends out a shorter distance.

Furniture with legs

Slim, tapered legs on your furniture can do wonders for helping a small bedroom look bigger. The extra space it creates underneath allows more light to flow around the room. It will also mean that the eye is allowed one continuous view of the room, without it being blocked off by the bottom of furniture pieces, which will help it seem bigger.

Shorter furniture

Increasing the wall space visually helps a small bedroom look bigger. And one way of maximising the visible wall space is by using shorter furniture. A low-slung bed and shorter bedside table, for example, will free up a large amount of wall space and help the room feel larger.

The bottom line

Just because you have a small bedroom, that doesn’t mean that you should be resigned to feeling cramped and cluttered every time you go to bed. Even a small space can feel big with the right furniture and placement.